When was the last time a horror movie in Malayalam gave you a jump scare with no overt VFX work? Bhoothakalam, streaming on Sony LIV is your answer to this question. Directed by Rahul Sadasivan, the psychological horror movie has Revathy and Shane Nigam in lead roles and Saiju Kurup, James Eliya, and Athira Patel in other notable roles.
Bhoothakalam follows Vinu, played by Shane Nigam, and his mother, played by Revathy. Vinu is a D Pharm graduate on the lookout for a job. He lives with his schoolteacher mother and a bed-ridden grandmother. When his grandmother dies, Vinu experiences mysterious incidents in the house, which impairs the already struggling bond he has with his mother. How the mother-son duo deal with the death and the incidents that follow form the crux of the film.
Camera work in the film, done by Shehnad Jalal, is to be appreciated in the 105-minute movie, for it successfully captures the claustrophobic and repetitive nature of Vinu’s life perfectly and simplistically. However, what made the film work as a horror flick are the leading actors.
Revathy has portrayed a clinically depressed mother to perfection, showing us why she is a revered actress in the industry. Shane Nigam was no lesser in this movie as he embodied a sleep-deprived young man with considerable substance abuse issues.
Admittedly, Bhoothakalam is a formulaic horror flick with the boxes that make up a movie in the genre all ticked off, be it the creaky door and unexplained noises or shadowy figures and moving objects. However, Revathy and Shane are able to keep a viewer at the edge of their seat until the last minute with their acting prowess and expressions. A cherry on top is definitely the eerie background score.
Gopi Sundar managed to complement the acting skills from the leading stars and create a score that in itself created a sense of dread, recoiling fear, and anticipation typical of a horror movie. Thus, the movie could get away from basic jump scares and negligible use of VFX. Moreover, it will keep the viewer hooked to the very last moment, clutching whatever they can clutch in fear.
As good a scare the movie could give its viewers, Bhoothakalam is not the most well-written film out there. There is an innate sense of rush and incompleteness in the movie when it comes to mental health and certain supporting characters. It seemed like the movie wanted to focus on the callous nature with which mental health is handled in today’s world and yet chose not to focus on the same themselves. Yet another off-putting aspect of the film is that the song placement in the movie feels so out of place and unnecessary.
Bhoothakalam is a predictable psychological thriller that seems incomplete at many places, held together by a brilliant cast and background score that keep the audience hooked. While the movie could have used some more story tweaks to define characters more, especially supporting characters, it is a good watch.